May 19 - Houston Chronicle

More than 8,400 customers of PreBuy Electric are being switched to another retail provider because the company failed to meet financial obligations to the state's grid operator.

PreBuy, based in Bridgeport, missed payments that were due Friday for power purchases through the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, according to an ERCOT spokeswoman.

Over the weekend ERCOT officials began transferring the customers to the "provider of last resort," a retail provider that takes over services for customers whose providers go out of business. Customers should not see an interruption in service.

PreBuy's 8,430 customers accounted for about 255 megawatt-hours of power used per day, according to ERCOT. Thirty-six customers are small businesses and the rest are residential.

About half of the customers affected are in the area served by transmission company Oncor in North Texas. Most of the rest are in the CenterPoint transmission area, which includes Houston.

tom.fowler@chron.com

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